This invention relates to a pipe assembly and more particularly to a pipe assembly including a clamping assembly associated with each abutting pair of pipe sections for clamping the sections together.
Plastic pipes have grown increasingly popular in recent years due to their light weight, low cost and relatively high resistance to chemicals and other corroding fluids. In the use of plastic pipes, as in the use of other types of pipes, including metal pipes, the pipe is fabricated in sections of various lengths and usually conveyed to the installation site where the pipe sections are connected to form the final assembly. In permanent installations, the usual technique for joining the plastic pipe sections is to fuse the pipe ends together with a fusion machine. However, this machine necessitates a power source and is so bulky that its use is prohibitive in close quarters. Because of these shortcomings, systems have been developed for the quick coupling of adjacent sections of plastic pipes. However, most of the quick coupling techniques involve the use of a circumferential groove formed at the ends of the pipe sections so that they can hold a gasket and/or corresponding keys formed on clamping assemblies. However, the formation of these grooves reduces the strength of each pipe section. The above problem is particularly acute in connection with pipe assemblies which are installed only temporarily and are subject to disassembly and removal from one place to another, since the multiple assembly and disassembly operations further weaken the pipe sections formed with the circumferential grooves.